William

Shakespeare (26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616)was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratfordupon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Ham net and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognized as Shakespeare's.

 Shakespeare

was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

 "All

the world's a stage" is the phrase that begins a monologue from William Shakespeare's As You Like It, spoken by the melancholy Jacques in Act II Scene VII. The speech compares the world to a stage and life to a play, and catalogues the seven stages of a man's life, sometimes referred to as the seven ages of man: infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon, and second childhood, sans. It is one of Shakespeare's most frequently-quoted passages, and is mistakenly believed by some to be Shakespeare's last speech.

Shakespeare compares the world with a stage in a theatre and men and women with the players on that stage. Like the stage in the theatre, life too has its entries and exits. A man plays his role through the seven ages of life. The first role/age is that of an infant. He cries and whines and vomits in the hands of his nurse. In the second stage of life, man plays the role of a little child. He carries a small schoolbag with him and has a shiny face, walking as slowly as possible because of his dislike of school. In the third stage of life, man plays the role of a lover. He falls in love passionately and sings a sad ballad about love, praising the beauty of his lovers eyebrows.

In the fourth stage of life, man plays the role of a soldier. He is full of strange oaths, bearded, and strives for honour, recognition and reputation, even faced with a cannon. In the fifth stage of life, man plays the role of a justice. He is well fed and has a fat belly. He is full of wise sayings. He uses his experience, wisdom and knowledge in the dispensation of justice. In the sixth stage of life, man becomes weak and fragile. He wears baggy clothes and his deep manly voice becomes high-pitched and whistly. Mans last stage is that of extreme old age. This stage is compared to second childhood. He loses control over his senses and becomes dependent on others just like a child. He becomes a victim of forgetfulness and loses his teeth, eyesight, hearing, etc. and then, he passes away.

The man in the poem goes through these stages: Infancy: In this stage he is a helpless baby and knows little. Childhood: It is that stage of life that he begins to go to school. He is unwilling to leave the protected environment of his home as he is still not confident enough to exercise his own discretion. The lover: In this stage he is always remorseful due to some reason or other, especially the loss of love. He tries to express feelings through song or some other cultural activity. The soldier: It is in this age that he thinks less of himself and begins to think more of others. He is very easily aroused and is hot headed. He is always working towards making a reputation for himself and gaining recognition, however short-lived it may be, even at the cost of his own life.

 The

justice: In this stage he has acquired wisdom through the many experiences he has had in life. He has reached a stage where he has gained prosperity and social status. He becomes very attentive of his looks and begins to enjoy the finer things of life. Old Age: He begins to lose his charm both physical and mental. He begins to become the butt of others' jokes. He loses his firmness and assertiveness, and shrinks in stature and personality. Extreme old age: He loses his status and he becomes a non-entity. He becomes dependent on others.

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth.

 And

then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

 At

first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

 And

then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school.

 And

then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow.

 Then

a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth.

 And

then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part.

 The

sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound.

 Last

scene of

all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Seven Ages of Man by William Mulready, 1838, illustrating the speech.

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